Promoting McCain as a VP option is good politics for Kerry

Selecting him would be terrible. McCain is no Democrat and most of his positions are exactly opposite ours.

But, by talking up McCain, his ego gets stroked and he will come to Kerry's defense when ShrubCo goes too far attacking Kerry's positions. That will negate a lot of Bush*s smears.

Talking up McCain also positions Kerry as a real "uniter, not divider". That will help with swing voters. And it also bolsters Kerry's credentials in fighting the "war" on terror.

All in all, it's a good thing to do, so long as a real Democrat is chosen in the end.

It has the added benefit of annoying every single Republican, including McCain, that gets asked about it.

it is politcal soundbite to moderate repukes and swing voters.

The country is supposedly split down the middle. It's good for independents to think about Kerry as a uniter from the middle. Bush and Rove have tried to portray Kerry as an ultra liberal from Taxachusetts (Zell Miller's words). Talk about his friendship with McCain makes the ultraliberal charge seem ridiculous.

Rove, et al, want to make Kerry look dangerous, and here is McCain essentially endorsing him, totally negating the riduculous fear-based attacks on Kerry.

The image of the two of them together on the CBS News last night was extremely positive. It showed that reasonable people of all stripes can stand united against the dangerous radical (thank you, Howard Dean) in the White House.

Personally, I'd like to see McCain in the cabinet somewhere PROVIDED he could keep his anti-choice views to himself.

A way to unite those who might be a little farther left, when Kerry does choose somebody. Some don't like Clark, some don't like Edwards. If it's one of them, and not McCain, they'll all be so relieved he didn't nominate a Republican they won't hesitate to vote even if they're not perfectly happy with his choice, because 'at least he didn't put a stinkin' Republican on the ticket with him.'

Maybe I'm paranoid, I don't know.

I don't know -- it's the kind of angling that makes me sick. McCain may be a man of integrity, but when the sun goes down he's still a Republican. I'm not in this to hand everything over to the Republicans (even the old-stylee Republicans) when it's all said and done. I mean, I'm not a hundred percent behind Clark, but hell -- what does McCain offer, other than the 'R,' that Clark doesn't?

If Kerry people leak that they are thinking about McCain, moderates and independents who like McCain will think better of Kerry, McCain will continue saying nice things about Kerry, and so forth.

n/t

to have a republican (especially an anti choice one) a heartbeat away from the presidency. I would be outraged.

... two VERY different things.

I agree with you. I would NEVER want to see McCain actually nominated as Kerry's running mate. That would split the Democratic Party. But a flurry of Kerry-McCain publicity many weeks before the convention and months before November could be very helpful for getting swing voters to start listening to John Kerry. At this point, Kerry needs all the help he can get just to be heard by those who must be weaned away from Dubya by November.

I said talk about it, not actually nominate him. Too many people seem to lack political nuance.

"Too many people seem to lack political nuance" is a real understatement.

Even here at DU, the art of civil discourse with those who disagree with you seems to have been lost. Instead of discussing ways to persuade others to join coalitions, people seem to want to be "dittoheads" with unchanging views on every issue.

Where is John Kerry's James Carville when we really need him? To win in November, we'll need DOZENS of great tactics like talking up McCain as a "possible" VP. Have you read Carville's "Buck Up Suck Up"?

which is one reason a lot of Bushies hate him.

then you know that there is a very stinky plot in place.

But, did you consider this...the Iraq scandal will turn so dark that the House will talk impeachment, the Repubs may run McCain for their own.

I would have never said the impeach word before this morning, but I think things are becoming disastrous for PNACers and the puppet.

You can only hold out with hazing rationale so long. Someone will shake sense into the heads of those little old ladies and men of all ages who are currently supporting Bush to his death.

Back in the days of door-to-door in-person selling, once a good salesman would "get his foot in the door", chances were he'd leave that house with an order and a payment. McCain Vice-Presidential "bait" is a very smart sales tactic for getting John Kerry's "foot in the door" with those who'd otherwise ignore him or respond with knee-jerk rejection.

Fox "News" watchers in the GOP may tune out or go into automatic attack mode whenever a prominent Democrat opens his mouth. Swing voters still may find Dubya appealing. But many in both groups really have liked McCain a lot better than George W Bush for a long time. And most of the media LOVE McCain, a colorful, outspoken war-hero with an adoring and photogenic wife.

Every time the media mention Kerry and McCain in the same sentence, a tiny bit of McCain's appeal gets mentally transferred to John Kerry. When Repuglicans and Independents find out that Kerry and McCain are close friends, Kerry's war record gets associated with McCain's, and minds are pried open a bit wider for Kerry's McCain-like foreign policy critique of the incumbents.

Salesmanship has been defined as earning the right to ask a customer to buy. IMHO, dangling the "bait" of a Vice-President McCain is a brilliant tactic for selling John Kerry to Republicans and Independents.

Why not pick Tricky Dicky? so what if he's dead.

"we need to try to break down this partisan hatered in this country. Choosing McCain as VP certainly would help do that." I think that was spoken by Sen. Biden. I doubt very much that McCain would accept the position, but it has to help promote the idea that BushCo is the divisive administration, and Kerry is not!

I also agree that McCain could be a big help for Kerry when BushCo starts to drop their sh*t bombs of lies on Kerry. McCain has been through this, and I think he will be a big Kerry supporter in defence of that kind of campaigning.

It also lends credibility to the "no difference between Republicans and Democrats" argument.

As a possible Kerry VP, McCain would have to break with Dubya. Such a break would show that Republican does not necessarily equal Republican, not that Republican = Democrat!

It's a great tactic. It won't happen but the more that it's speculated about the better Kerry looks to those Republicans and independents who are sick of the stain that the Bush administration has tarnished us all with.

Hopefully, he'll end up picking Clark for his VP. Clark is very progressive on many fronts but has a lot of cred with a lot of the Republicans and Independents as well. Additionally, Clark knows the Pentagon inside and out and would be able to help Kerry work to clean up this Iraq mess and get us out of there as soon as possible.

This is all going to go down as probably the biggest foreign policy disaster in U.S. history.

These last four years will be judged as a very dark period for our country and Kerry will be the President who comes in and sets things right.

McCain was supposed to be the "loose cannon", remember? Bush was the calm, centrist, compassionate conservative. Yeah right. As long as McCain keeps showing up in the news, Republicans will see the extremism of Bush. Then they see the friendship between McCain and Kerry and decide to give Kerry a look. I think we should keep talking McCain up. Two voices of reason in a sea of chaos.

I think it's time to start talking about a 'place in a Kerry administration', NOT as a 'potential VP'.

:eyes:

It gives people the impression that there's a shortage of good and qualified Democrat candidates if McCain is being considered. I can just hear people now: "Man, if they're considering McCain, they must not think too highly of their own people." Especially when McCain is saying on the radio that he's a Bush supporter.

When they pick a Democrat in the end, people will say "So he / she was the second choice, eh? I guess they couldn't get McCain."

I cannot see an upside to this idea at all.

I agree if it seems like Kerry has targeted McCain as the pick, it's a bad move. But, if McCain is just held up as one of many potentially good picks, it only helps. Kerry (and other Dems) just need to stay respectful, but vague.

The national unity idea transcends any other perception in that case.

So far, I don't think Kerry has come close to focusing on McCain. Biden probably went a little too far Sunday, but he doesn't speak for Kerry, so there's no harm at this point.

Whenever McCain's name is mentioned, the press cameras roll. I've read nothing about other potential nominees, just McCain, McCain, McCain.

Maybe that's just from living in the D.C. Metro area, but it's "all McCain, all the time" here, and even if it weren't, it disturbs me that anyone could think Kerry would even consider a Repug - it means that none of the Democrat nominee possibilities excite him.

It's gotten to the point where the media chase down McCain for denials. This is not a good strategy, and personally I want Kerry to separate himself from it.

think of the resources used for this one story...

Kerry needs to milk it as long as possible.

But my heart of gold is saying that mixing a centrist with a right-winger is suicide for the DFL party.

Why else vote for Kerry, if he's schmoozing and licking republicans?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x527144#527437

:-)